Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Is Dallas Going to Become the New Boston?

Not in terms of me hating them - I always have love for the Big D - but in terms of the championship run Beantown went on from 2001-2011. The city I hate won three Lombardis,  a Larry O'Brien, a Stanley Cup and two whatever-they-call-the-World-Series-trophy-with-the-little-flags-on-its in eleven seasons. Though Dallas just earned its first 'ship of the millennium this summer with the Mavericks, it appears it could be on the cusp of something big.

The Rangers appear to be headed to their second straight World Series and have looked very good this October. Let's say they win it all this season. That would give Dallas two 'ships in one year and leave a full decade for the Cowboys and Stars to catch up. At the time the Patriots won their first Lombardi to start this streak, the Celtics weren't very good (coming off the Rick Pitino era), the Red Sox had failed to win the big one for eight-plus decades and the Bruins were typically low seeds if they made the playoffs at all.

The Cowboys have all the talent in the world, but clearly fall below expectations year after year. In my book, they'll continue to do that in the Romo era, but he's not going to have a star on his helmet for the next 10 years. The Stars had their best shot to win a few years ago, falling in the Conference finals in 2008, but they have a big budget, a nice group of young talent (Benn, Goligoski, Eriksson) and very good players in their prime (Lehtonen, Daley, Morrow, Ribiero) to work with.

Obviously, it's not likely that those two teams also win a 'ship soon or guaranteed that the Rangers win it all this year. I'm trying to jump ahead and make some bold predictions so we'll see how it all plays out.

Dallas did have a nice run in the 1990s with three Super Bowls and a Stanley Cup from 1993-1999. During that time the Rangers were good, not great and the Mavericks were awful, losing 60 games three times and never winning more than 36. If the Rangers win it this season, you could take a trip backwards and say while Boston winning seven titles in 11 years is more impressive, Dallas claiming or six in 18 isn't too shabby. It would be a tighter window to win 'ships in all four sports (15 years, Cowboys '96, Stars '99, Rangers and Mavs '11) than any other city not named Boston (note: I didn't actually check this but I'm pretty sure it's true).

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